Last September we bought tickets for Frozen on Broadway as a school vacation surprise for E, and then forgot about it until two weeks ago. So greetings from NYC, where I'm on a bit of a working vacation. Here we go...

Top of the Morning

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Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be secured lenders.

The group now controlling Toys "R" Us reportedly has rejected an $890 million offer from billionaire Isaac Larian that would have involved over 200 U.S. stores and more than 80 Canadian stores.

Larian, who founded the company that makes Bratz dolls, had worked for the past month on his offer, which envisioned a revised store concept that he described as "a mini-Disneyland in each neighborhood." It had included both a crowdfunding campaign and involvement from banks UBS and BofA.

Why it matters: A lot of jobs are at stake here, and the lenders seem uninterested in saving any of them. Tunnel vision toward liquidation. And before you email me about fiduciary duty, know that Larian says he wasn't even informed his bid was being rejected, thus not giving him the opportunity to make it more attractive.

No, private equity still isn't off the hook here. It helped cause this mess in the first place, but is no longer calling the shots.

What's next: A bankruptcy court auction is expected to take place today, but there is no word yet on if there are any other viable offers that would maintain the portfolio of performing U.S. stores.

•Courtroom: Next up in the DoJ vs. AT&T trial are a series of top AT&T and Time Warner executives, which could be the final witnesses before closing arguments.

Axios' David McCabe says DoJ lawyers likely will press AT&T its central claim that it needs Time Warner to compete with big Silicon Valley tech companies like Google, and press Time Warner to admit that its content is "must-have." (a lynchpin of the government's case).

"The fintech revolution will not eliminate the need for trusted intermediaries, such as brokers and bankers. There is hope, however, that decentralized applications spurred by crypto-assets will lead to a diversification of the financial landscape, a better balance between centralized and de-centralized service providers, and a financial ecosystem that is more efficient and potentially more robust in resisting threats."

The BFD

Photo by Brian Ach/WireImage for BWR Public Relations.

Carl Icahn has amassed a stake in VMware, the cloud computing and virtualization software company majority-owned by Dell Technologies, according to CNBC. The position is below 5%, thus not triggering reporting requirements.

Why it's the BFD: Because Icahn is no stranger to throwing a monkey wrench into Michael Dell's plans. No word yet on his intentions for VMWare, but in 2013 he engaged in a contentious (and ultimately unsuccessful) battle to stop Dell from taking his eponymous company private.

Bottom line: "Dell is considering a reverse-merger with VMware, where Dell and its tracker stock, DVMT, would be rolled into one publicly-traded company... A deal remains tricky because VMware shareholders will need to be convinced a transaction is in the company's best interest." — Alex Sherman, CNBC

Venture Capital Deals

•100Credit, a Chinese provider of credit services, raised around $159 million in Series C funding. State-owned China Reform led, and was joined by return backer Sequoia Capital China. http://axios.link/XM6W

•Drift, a Boston-based conversational sales and marketing platform, raised $60 million in new funding. Sequoia Capital led, and was joined by return backers CRV and General Catalyst. http://axios.link/HfWF

•Project44, a Chicago-based provider of supply chain visibility solutions, raised $35 million in new funding. OpenView led, and was joined by 8VC and return backers Emergence Capital, Omidyar Technology Ventures, Chicago Ventures and Pritzker Group Venture Capital. http://axios.link/g418

🚑 LimFlow, a Paris-based developer of peripheral endovascular technology for the treatment of critical limb ischemia, raised around $33 million in Series C funding. Sofinnnova Partners led and was joined by return backers Bpifrance and Balestier. www.limflow.com

•Green Bits, a maker of point-of-sale software for cannabis retailers, has raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global, with Snoop Dogg's Casa Verde Capital also participating. http://axios.link/33rC

🚑 Vicarious Surgical, a developer of VR-based surgical robotics, raised $16.75 million in Series A funding. Khosla Ventures and Innovation Endeavors, co-led, and were joined by Gates Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures and Marc Benioff. http://axios.link/HANR

•RapidSOS, a New York-based startup that provides data for emergency response situations, raised $16 million in new funding. Highland Capital Partners led, and was joined by Microsoft Ventures and CSAA Insurance Group. www.rapidsos.com

•BookingBug, a Boston-based appointment and scheduling platform, raised $13.4 million in Series C funding from PeakSpan Capital and Downing Ventures. www.bookingbug.com

•Agentology, a San Diego-based provider of rapid response services for real estate agents, raised $12 million led by Defy.vc. http://axios.link/yS3b

•Instant Financial, a Vancouver-based provider of employee payment technologies, raised C$11.4 million in Series A funding. TTV Capital led, and was joined by return backers ITC Partners Fund, Kinetic Ventures and Real Ventures. www.instant.co

🚑 Airway Therapeutics, a Cincinnati-based developer of interventions for acute and chronic lung disease, raised $11 million in Series B funding. Existing backers include CincyTech. www.airwaytherapeutics.com

🚑 Parsley Health, a membership-based personalized healthcare service, raised $10 million in Series A funding. FirstMark Capital led, and was joined by Amplo, Trail Mix Ventures, Combine and The Chernin Group. http://axios.link/jaYj

•XpertSea, a Canadian aquaculture startup, raised C$10 million in Series A funding. Obvious Ventures and Aqua-Spark co-led, and were joined by Real Ventures. www.xpertsea.com

•Nano-C, a Westwood, Mass.-based developer of nanostructured carbon for energy and electronics applications, raised $3 million in new funding from Ray Stata. www.nano-c.com

•Cohesity, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based hyperconverged data platform, is in talks to raise at least $150 million in new funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund at around a $1 billion valuation, per Recode. http://axios.link/vChX

Private Equity Deals

•Arsenal Capital Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Fralock, a Valencia, Calif.-based maker of components and assemblies for end-markets like semiconductors. www.fralock.com

⛽ Castle Harlan has agreed to acquire the North American production equipment manufacturing assets of Exterran (NYSE: EXTN), and will rename the business Titan Production Equipment. www.titanpeq.com

•CVC Capital Partners, EQT Partners and KKR are considering bids for the industrial gas-engines business being sold by General Electric (NYSE: GE), according to Bloomberg. The deal could be valued north of $3 billion, with Cummins (NYSE: CMI) also expressing interest. http://axios.link/NTJ1

•DFW Capital Partners has acquired ReSource Pro, a New York-based provider of business process management and outsourcing to the insurance industry. www.resourcepro.com

🦔 Gauge Capital has acquired a majority stake in American Nuts, a Sylmar, Calif.-based supplier and processor of nuts, seeds and dried fruits to bulk retail, industrial and foodservice markets. www.americannuts.com

•HighTower, a registered investment advisor backed by Thomas H. Lee Partners, has agreed to acquire the wealth management business of Salient Partners. www.hightoweradvisors.com

•May River Capital has acquired Dickson, an Addison, Ill.-based provider of test and measurement instruments. www.dicksondata.com

Public Offerings

More M&A

•Imersys (Paris: IMTP) has hired JPMorgan and Rothschild to find a buyer for its roofing tiles business, which could be valued at around €1 billion and is expected to receive private equity interest, per Reuters. http://axios.link/wcnX

•Lagardere (Paris: LAGA) is in talks to sell its French magazine titles, including Elle, to Czech Media Invest. http://axios.link/ZRpj

⛽ Total (Paris: TOTF) has agreed to acquire a majority stake in French electricity retailer Direct Energie (Paris: DIREN) for €1.4 billion. http://axios.link/5Vb9